就這件事而言,對(duì)于一名曲棍球運(yùn)動(dòng)員,或者是比爾·喬伊,或者是羅伯特·奧本海默,或其他任何一名佼佼者而言,
to look down from their lofty perch and say with truthfulness, "I did this, all by myself."
讓他們從高貴的地位上放下姿態(tài)并坦率地說:“這些都是我自己做的。”這是不可能的。
Superstar lawyers and math whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience. But they don't.
超級(jí)律師、數(shù)學(xué)天才和軟件企業(yè)家或許會(huì)對(duì)他們是該領(lǐng)域的局外人感到羞愧,但是,這些人不會(huì)。
They are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious.
他們是歷史、社會(huì)、機(jī)遇和祖輩傳承的產(chǎn)物。他們的成功不是例外的,也不神秘。
It is grounded in the web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky—but all critical to making them who they are.
它是植根于一個(gè)優(yōu)勢(shì)和祖輩傳承的網(wǎng)絡(luò),有些人當(dāng)之無愧,有些人不是;有些人賺到錢,有些人只是單憑運(yùn)氣——但所有這些對(duì)他們知道自己是誰很關(guān)鍵。
The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all.
那些佼佼者,到最后,都不再算是佼佼者了。
My great-great-great grandmother was bought at Alligator Pond.
我的曾曾曾曾祖母是被人在鱷魚塘的奴隸市場(chǎng)買來的,
That act, in ture, gave her son, John Ford, the privilege of a skin color that speared him a life of slavery.
而這一行為,反過來,給予了她的兒子約翰·福特膚色的特權(quán),使他沒有過奴役的生活。
The culture of possibility that Daisy Ford embraced and put to use so brilliantly on behalf of her daughters was passed onto her by the peculiarities of the West Indian social structure.
戴西·福特接納了這種通過西印第安特殊社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)傳承下來的文化,并代表她的女兒聰明地利用了這種文化。
And my mother's education was the product of the riots of 1937 and the industriousness of Mr.Chance.
而我母親的教育得益于1937年的社會(huì)動(dòng)亂及“關(guān)鍵先生”的勤勞。
These were history's gifts to my family.
這些都是歷史給予我家庭的饋贈(zèng)——
And if the resources of that grocer, the fruits of those riots, the possibilities of that culture, and the privileges of that skin tone had been extended to others,
如果沒有當(dāng)時(shí)雜貨店的資助、社會(huì)動(dòng)亂的結(jié)果、那種文化中受教育可能性,以及膚色的特權(quán)沒有擴(kuò)延到其他地方,
how many more would now live a life of fulfillment in the beautiful house high on a hill?
那么現(xiàn)在,我們又怎能住在山腰的美麗房子里,享受富足的生活呢?